


Blowing Off Steam

by Hagrid_Hair



Category: British Actor RPF, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Filming, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, New Zealand, Pre-Relationship, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Sparring, Swordfighting, Training, they like each other they just don't know it yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26095549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hagrid_Hair/pseuds/Hagrid_Hair
Summary: The rest of The Hobbit cast and crew have already flown home for the Christmas period but thanks to an oncoming storm Richard and his co-worker are stuck in New Zealand until further notice.Not happy with missing Christmas with their families, they are both in serious need of blowing off some steam...
Relationships: Richard Armitage/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Blowing Off Steam

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't yet decided how mature this is going to get but I'll be sure to put up a warning beforehand on any chapters that contain mature content.

Kate let the heavy door slam shut behind her as she entered the gym, not caring how loud a noise it made; there was no one there to hear it, after all. Pulling out her iPod and throwing her bag in the corner, she headed over to the nearest treadmill, shoving her headphones in her ears and setting the music to full volume before hopping on for a warm up run. 

\-----

A loud bang startled Richard and threw him off kilter as he swung the training sword through the air, momentarily losing his balance and missing his invisible target. He found his feet again just as another bang echoed from what he believed was the direction of the gym, and the skin on the back of his neck prickled. 

Nobody was supposed to be there, everybody had already gone home for the Christmas break. So who was making all that noise? He tried to remember if he'd locked the door on his way in, but he was pretty sure that he had. 

Had someone broken in? Was there someone in the gym trying to steal one of the machines while nobody was there? His jaw set into a hard line as he gripped the wooden sword tighter. Silently, he made his way to the source of the noise, braced for an oncoming attack and ready to take anyone down who tried it on. He hadn't expected to see someone he knew. 

\-----

Sweat beaded on Kate's forehead as she pushed herself further, determined to keep up with the increasing pace of the treadmill. She'd been running for several minutes and her legs had already started to go numb, but she wasn't going to give in. When the treadmill reached its peak speed she managed to keep up fairly well, before finally allowing herself a break and turning the speed back down to a steady jog for the cool down. She needed a drink. With Lady Gaga's ‘Just Dance’ blasting in her ears she danced her way over to the drinking fountain, taking a long swig before turning back to move onto the rowing machine. 

When she saw Richard standing in the doorway she screamed, her headphones falling out of her ears. 

"Fucking hell!" she yelped, holding a hand to her chest and feeling her erratic heartbeat. "I didn't know anyone else was here!"

"Obviously," Richard's lips pulled into a smirk, "although I did rather enjoy the dancing."

Kate's cheeks flushed as Richard chuckled, and she suddenly noticed the training sword in his hand, her eyebrow lifting inquisitively. 

"I thought you might be an intruder," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. 

"Right,"

"Sorry, I didn't realise anyone else was here...I thought I was the only one who’d been left behind."

Kate swallowed the lump in her throat as she thought of her family back home, who she would now be spending Christmas without. She was supposed to be flying home that very afternoon, but thanks to the vicious storm that was on its way all flights in and out of New Zealand had been cancelled for the foreseeable future. 

"I thought I may as well blow off some steam before the storm shuts us in completely,” Kate explained feebly, hoping that Richard hadn’t noticed the crack in her voice. He nodded in understanding, a pensive look on his face. 

“Looks like we had the same idea.”

Kate regarded the sword in Richard’s hand for a moment, and an idea quickly sprang to mind. 

“Fancy a sparring partner?” 

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” he insisted, “I wouldn’t like to disrupt your dancing - sorry - your _workout_.” He smirked and Kate found herself blushing for the second time in five minutes. 

“ _Very funny,_ ” she quipped, smiling despite herself. “Come on, let’s see _your_ moves.” She took the wooden sword from him as she walked past, leaving the gym and heading into the much larger training room. It was empty for the most part, with crash mats and various obstacles littered around the room edges, and a rack filled with wooden training weapons. 

As one of the fight choreographers Kate had spent many hours here, figuring out and teaching a multitude of sequences to the cast and their stunt doubles. It had been a while since she’d seen Richard in action, however, as she’d spent the last couple of weeks working with the secondary unit, so she was looking forward to seeing the progress he’d made in her absence. 

“Come on then, Oakenshield,” she called, once he’d taken his place on the opposite side of the training area with a new weapon in hand. “It’s time to show me what you dwarves are made of.” 

They nodded respectfully to one another before jumping straight into battle, moving with precise skill as they counteracted each others’ attacks in a rhythmic dance. Richard adopted a more defensive approach to the fight, deflecting every one of Kate’s attacks while leaping this way and that to avoid being struck. Kate, on the other hand, was relentless, moving swiftly into a new attack each time Richard countered, barely giving him time to recover each time. The routine continued in this manner for several minutes, their grunts and gasps and the clacking of their swords the only sound as they pirouetted and pivoted around the training area until finally, after a particularly complicated move that left Richard wide open for an attack, Kate got the upper hand. He was on the ground in seconds, hardly even registering what had happened before Kate had him pinned to the ground with a knee on his chest, her sword held menacingly at his throat. 

“Okay, okay, I surrender!” He panted, holding his hands up as best as he could given his current position. 

“Well, that was easier than I thought it was going to be,” Kate admitted with a smirk, throwing down her weapon and making a move to get up. Taking advantage of her moment of weakness, Richard grabbed her and turned them so that she was the one being pinned, his hands on her wrists to avoid any attempts to escape. 

“It would appear that the tables have turned,” he observed with a wicked grin, and Kate couldn’t help but laugh. 

“So they have…”

Something in the air shifted then that caught them both off guard. Whether it was the exertion, the adrenaline, or the fact that their faces were so close to one another, they suddenly found themselves meeting each other’s gaze and not wanting to look away. Kate’s throat went dry, and when she licked her lips Richard’s eyes darted to her mouth. When he returned his gaze to hers she felt a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach. 

_Butterflies._

Suddenly she was admiring every inch of his face, wondering if he’d _always_ been this handsome and his lips so inviting or whether she’d just been walking around completely oblivious. She was aware that the space between them was getting smaller as they seemed to gravitate towards one another, and her heart beat a thousand times a minute as an abundance of warnings and alarm bells rattled in her head. But she ignored them all as she focused on the one thing she wanted more than anything in that moment. 

She wanted to kiss Richard Armitage. 

And, judging by the way he was looking at her, he wanted to kiss her too. 


End file.
